By Andy Latack
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan men's tennis squad received a crash course in teamwork this weekend and passed with flying colors.
Playing in their first team match of the season, the Wolverines posted a third-place finish in the O'Charley's Tennis Classic in Knoxville, Tenn. The Wolverines defeated one ranked opponent and put quite a scare into another while beginning the regular season at 2-1.
The team faced No. 26 Alabama-Birmingham in the opening round and started out as if somebody had poisoned their pregame grits. Michigan dropped all three doubles matches, giving UAB an early 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines were able to recover from the shaky start, however. In a convincing turnaround, the team took five of the six singles matches to win, 5-2.
"We came out very tight and tentative in doubles and did not play particularly well," Michigan coach Brian Eisner said. "Eventually, the nervousness wore off, and I was impressed with our ability to come back the way we did."
The Wolverine's jump into the winner's bracket pitted them against No. 20 Middle Tennessee State, the tournament's No. 2 seed. The team dropped their No.1 doubles match and won No. 3, leaving the deciding third contest up to Michigan duo Arvid Swan and Miki Pusztai, the No. 2 entry. The pair locked with its opponents at 8-8, forcing a tiebreaker. After fighting through three match points, the two eventually fell, 10-12, setting the tone for the close competition that would follow.
The Wolverines tested the Blue Raiders in every singles match before eventually losing, 2-5. The Blue Raiders would eventually defeat Virginia to win the tournament.
Eisner praised the team's effort after the match.
"They were a much, much better team (than UAB)," he said. "We were in a position to win the match, which was encouraging. I was talking with their coach after the match, and we both agreed that if these teams played 10 matches, we would probably split 5-5."
The Wolverines faced Indiana in the third-place game, another upstart Big Ten team that had defeated host Tennessee in its first-round match. Travel plans were a concern for the team, and the two schools agreed to play to four points to allow the Wolverines to catch their flight home.
Michigan made short work of the Hoosiers in the abbreviated match, winning 4-0 behind convincing singles victories by juniors David Paradzik and Brook Blain. Blain finished the tournament a perfect 3-0 in singles matches, tying Paradzik for the team lead with 14 wins on the season.
Eisner and the rest of the team were very satisfied with the progress made over the weekend.
"For our first team competition, we did a very solid job," he said. "It's disappointing in the sense that we felt we could've won the tournament, but we've established that this team is ready to compete every match.
"We're good now, but we have the chance to be outstanding."
JOSH BIGGS/Daily
Sophomore Jake Raiton and the Michigan men's tennis team began the dual-match portion of their season by finishing third at the O'Charley's Tennis Classic. The Wolverines beat Big Ten rival Indiana to capture third place at the tournament.